Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is pushing a resolution that would indicate that the Senate denounces the persecution of Christians in Muslim-majority nations, while Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.V., and several other House Republicans are pushing a House version that would declare the lower chamber’s condemnation of such persecution.

The resolutions urge the president to prioritize the defense of persecuted Christians in America’s foreign policy, including via ‘diplomatic engagement with Muslim-majority countries’ as well as ‘efforts to stabilize the Middle East.’

The proposed resolutions also urge the president to leverage the diplomatic toolkit ‘to advance the protection of persecuted Christians worldwide and within Muslim-majority countries.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, which did not provide comment.

‘Our country was founded on religious liberty. We cannot sit on the sidelines as Christians around the world are being persecuted for declaring Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We must condemn these heinous crimes,’ Hawley said, according to press releases issued by the offices of Hawley and Moore.

‘Year after year, the number of Christians murdered by extremists in Nigeria has numbered in the thousands. Millions more have been displaced. We cannot allow this to continue. I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning the persecution of Christians around the world by supporting this resolution.’

Original cosponsors in the House included GOP Reps. Greg Steube of Florida, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, Addison McDowell of North Carolina, Brandon Gill of Texas, Pat Harrigan of North Carolina, and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.

While not an original cosponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, is a cosponsor of the resolution in the House, according to congress.gov.

‘Around the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ face rampant persecution for simply acknowledging the name of Jesus. That is unacceptable. In Nigeria alone, more than 50,000 Christians have been martyred and more than 5 million have been displaced simply for professing their faith. During a Divine Liturgy in Damascus last month, an islamic jihadist opened fire on worshippers and detonated an explosive device — killing at least 30 and wounding dozens more. These examples illustrate the violence and death Christians face on a daily basis,’ Moore said, according to press releases.

‘Unfortunately, decades of U.S. foreign policy blunders have exacerbated this crisis, with ethno-religious cleansing accelerating in Iraq after our failure to stabilize the country following the 2003 invasion. We as lawmakers cannot continue to sit idly by. I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning the persecution of Christians across the globe.’

Continued fallout from the handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s case has partially paralyzed House Republicans’ agenda this week.

Frustrated GOP lawmakers have found themselves in a political minefield over the late pedophile, pointing fingers at each other, Democrats and even the Trump administration as members of President Donald Trump’s base continue to clamor for immediate transparency.

‘We ought to be consistent and transparent. So we have consistently asked for the release of the Epstein files, and that shouldn’t stop now that we are in charge,’ one House Republican told Fox News Digital under the condition of anonymity.

‘This issue is not going away. The quicker we deal with it and nip it in the bud, then we take it off the table as an issue the Democrats can use against us and can be used, as you see, procedurally, to stop other good legislation from going through.’

A Department of Justice (DOJ) memo earlier this month declaring the Epstein case closed ignited a civil war within the GOP, with figures on the far right accusing Trump officials of stonewalling despite promises of transparency.

Days later, Trump called on a federal judge to release grand jury testimony in Epstein’s case.

Democrats, meanwhile, have seized on the discord with newfound calls to ‘release the Epstein files,’ as Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, put it on multiple occasions.

Democrats on the panel – which serves as the final gatekeeper to legislation that requires a simple majority vote – have used their ability to introduce an unlimited number of amendments during committee hearings to force Republicans to take politically sticky votes on releasing information about Epstein.

‘There is a list, that list is a victim list. And you’ve got to carefully walk through a victims list, because it involved Epstein. Epstein was involved with minors,’ said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. ‘I think the other thing is, I find ironic just out of circumstance, that the Democrats are pushing so hard for an Epstein file that the Biden administration had for four years.’

It led to House GOP leaders advancing a nonbinding resolution calling on the Trump administration to release the files, though it’s not clear when that will receive a chamber-wide vote.

But Democrats pledged to work from the same playbook during a Monday night Rules Committee hearing to kick off the GOP agenda. Republicans responded by forcing those proceedings to grind to a halt.

House leaders canceled a planned day of voting on Thursday – sending lawmakers to August recess a day early.

‘The rules committee will not be meeting, and rightfully so. They were going to use the whole time, and they told us, just amendment after amendment. They think they’ve got a wedge in this – they don’t,’ committee member Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital.

He’s one of several House Republicans who told Fox News Digital they were giving deference to the Trump administration on handling the issue – while praising how the White House has handled it so far.

Multiple lawmakers told Fox News Digital that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged Republicans in their Tuesday morning closed-door conference to allow the administration to do its work and not demand the release of information that could risk harming Epstein’s victims.

One person said, ‘We don’t want to embarrass ourselves, keep asking and asking for something, then it comes out, and it’s like – ‘We didn’t want that.’ But I mean, we’ve got to trust the administration.’

‘The administration has done a great job. All the wins that they have – I’m not going to let this waylay them,’ Norman said. ‘In 45 days or two months, if nothing happens, that’ll be a problem. But that won’t happen. We’re going to get it out.’

Moments later he took to X to demand an immediate vote on the nonbinding Epstein resolution, however.

‘The American people deserve action, not excuses. Let’s vote on it before August recess and get it DONE!!’ Norman said.

The South Carolina Republican, who is considering a bid for governor, is one of several conservatives pushing the issue, despite GOP leaders’ pleas to stay quiet on the matter.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., teamed up with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on a measure that could force a House-wide vote on releasing Epstein-related documents – if it netted a majority of the chamber’s support. That mechanism, called a discharge petition, could force House GOP leaders into a difficult position when they are back in early September.

Several Republican lawmakers have signed onto Massie’s measure in support.

Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee unanimously approved a move by Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., to call for imprisoned ex-Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to be subpoenaed.

Three more House Republicans, however, told Fox News Digital they believe most lawmakers want the matter to dissipate.

One locked in on Massie and his nonbinding resolution, ‘He’s doing all of this for self-promotion and attention, and it’s sad and pathetic.’

Even Johnson took aim at Massie during his weekly press conference when asked about his discharge petition.

‘It’s interesting to me that he chose the election of President Trump to bring this, to team up with the Democrats and bring this discharge petition,’ the speaker said.

‘I also try to follow the Scripture. You know it says, Bless those who persecute you. So let me just say about Thomas Massie: Could you just accept my Southern, bless his heart.’

He also pointed out the administration was in the process of sifting through what information it could release.

‘There’s no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they’re already doing. And so this is for political games. I’m very, very resolute on this. We can both call for full transparency and also protect victims,’ Johnson said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a Trump ally who is backing Massie’s discharge petition, told reporters, ‘I’m all for transparency, but we just have to be a little patient with the court.’

Several people noted that any bombshell information implicating Trump or other high-level figures would have leaked by now.

But the two other House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital said they and their colleagues were frustrated with how the Trump administration has handled the matter so far.

‘We need to give it the opportunity to simmer down,’ one of the two lawmakers said. ‘I will say, for me, when you say the list is on your desk, and there’s no list – you can’t take that one back. And I think that’s probably the genesis of the whole thing.’

That was in reference to Bondi telling Fox News Channel of Epstein’s client list in February, ‘It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.’

Another GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital, ‘You can’t set up all these expectations and then not expect some criticism on the backend when you decide to not move forward with it… I don’t understand it at all.’

And Massie, for his part, has remained fixed in his course while arguing that doing otherwise will cost Republicans the 2026 elections. He also accused Johnson of telling Republicans to ‘stick your head in the sand’ and defer to the Trump administration.

‘If we don’t take the right side of this issue, it’s going to cost us votes in the midterms. People are becoming despondent. They’re apathetic. Why would they go vote if they gave us the House, the Senate and the White House and the transparency and justice they were promised doesn’t happen?’ Massie said. ‘And I think it could be a real problem for us. That’s why it would behoove the speaker to bring this to the floor. It would be in the best interest of this institution just to vote this out and give it to the Senate and let them do their thing.’

When reached for comment, the White House responded with a lengthy statement touting Trump’s accomplishments that did not mention Epstein.

‘Under President Trump’s leadership, the Republican Party has achieved unprecedented unity and strength. After securing the largest share of votes ever for a Republican presidential nominee and winning majorities in both the House and Senate, President Trump has delivered the most impactful first six months of any presidency. He has fulfilled numerous campaign promises – and then some!’ said spokesman Harrison Fields.

Indeed, Republicans have had a number of significant legislative successes this year, even with a razor-thin majority.

When reached for comment, a DOJ spokesperson pointed Fox News Digital to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s statement on Tuesday, digging in on the department’s earlier memo.

‘[I]n the recent thorough review of the files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties. President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,’ Blanche said. ‘Therefore, at the direction of Attorney General Bondi, I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department.’

Former President Barack Obama denied President Donald Trump’s ‘bizarre allegations’ that he was the Russiagate ‘ringleader,’ in a rare public statement Tuesday evening. 

Trump, earlier on Tuesday, claimed that former President Barack Obama was the ‘ringleader’ of Russiagate, calling for him to be criminally investigated amid new claims that members of his administration allegedly ‘manufactured’ intelligence that prompted the Trump–Russia collusion narrative.

‘Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,’ Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement. ‘But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.’ 

‘These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,’ Obama’s spokesman continued. ‘Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.’ 

He added: ‘These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.’ 

Rodenbush’s statement on behalf of Obama comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently declassified documents revealing ‘overwhelming evidence’ that claimed that after Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team allegedly laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe.

Gabbard said the documents revealed that Obama administration officials ‘manufactured and politicized intelligence’ to allegedly create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise.

The new documents name Obama, top officials on his National Security Council, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, national security advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others.

Gabbard, on Monday, sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department related to those findings. Department of Justice officials did not share further details on whom the criminal referral was for.

As for Gabbard’s criminal referral, Trump was asked which specific figures should be under criminal investigation, to which he replied: ‘President Obama. He started it.’

‘And Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan. They were all there in the room right here. This is the room,’ Trump said from the Oval Office Tuesday during a meeting with the president of the Philippines. ‘It was President Obama. It was lots of people all over the place.’

No other former Obama-era officials have responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The president went on to say that his administration has ‘all of the documents, and from what Tulsi told me, she’s got thousands of additional documents coming.’

‘So President Obama, it was his concept — his idea,’ Trump said Tuesday. ‘But he also got it from crooked Hillary Clinton — crooked as a $3 bill, and Hillary Clinton and her group, the Democrats, spent $12 million to Christopher Steele to write up a report that was a total fake report.’

Steele authored the discredited anti-Trump dossier, which was paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through law firm Perkins Coie.

The anti-Trump dossier served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The intelligence community, at the time, widely viewed the dossier as ‘internet rumor,’ but top officials, like Comey, McCabe and Brennan, reportedly pushed for its inclusion in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment.

‘It took two years to figure that out, but it came out that it was a total fake report — it was made-up fiction — and they used that,’ Trump said. ‘The Steele report was a disaster — all lies, all fabrication, all admitted fraud.’

Meanwhile, Trump said ‘we caught Hillary Clinton, we got Barack Hussein Obama. They’re the ones. And then you have many, many people under them. Susan Rice — they’re all the names.’

‘I guess they figured they’re going to put this in as classified information and nobody will ever see it again — but it doesn’t work that way,’ Trump said. ‘It is the most unbelievable thing I think I’ve ever read.’ 

Trump added: ‘Never has a thing like this happened in the history of our country.’ 

On July 28, 2016, Brennan briefed President Obama on a plan from one of Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisors ‘to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service,’ meeting notes said. 

‘We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from (REDACTED),’ read Brennan’s handwritten notes, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020. ‘CITE (summarizing) alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.’

After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to Comey and Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject line: ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI’s original ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ investigation. After nearly two years, Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.

Shortly after, John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ probe.

Durham found that the FBI ‘failed to act’ on a ‘clear warning sign’ that the bureau was the ‘target’ of a Clinton-led effort to ‘manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes’ ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Comey and Brennan are currently under criminal investigation, launched by FBI Director Kash Patel. 

Fox News’ Mike Emanuel contributed to this report. 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee lashed out at almost 30 Western countries who on Monday called for Israel to end the war in Gaza, saying in a post on X that ‘when Hamas thinks you do good work, you are doing evil.’

‘How embarrassing for a nation to side w/ a terror group like Hamas & blame a nation whose civilians were massacred for fighting to get hostages released,’ wrote Huckabee after Hamas – whose Oct. 7, 2023, mass terror attack on Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza – said it welcomed ‘the contents of the joint statement issued by the United Kingdom Government along with 25 other countries, calling for an immediate end to the war on the Gaza Strip.’

The U.S. and EU-designated terror group also reiterated its claims that Israel was carrying out a ‘policy of starvation’ on the coastal enclave amid unverified reports that people have died due to hunger-related reasons. Fox News Digital has not been able to independently verify such reports.

‘The statement’s condemnation of the killing of over 800 Palestinian civilians at the gates of U.S.-Israeli-controlled aid checkpoints underscores the brutality of this mechanism,’ Hamas wrote following a statement issued by the U.K. Foreign Office and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

‘The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,’ read Lammy’s statement, which was also signed by the foreign ministers of 28 countries.

‘If Hamas embraces you – you are in the wrong place,’ Israel’s Foreign Minister Gidon Saar responded on X. ‘Hamas’s praise for the statement by the group of countries is the best proof of the mistake they made – part of them out of good intentions and part of them out of an obsession against Israel.’ 

Since launching a new model for food aid distribution in the war-torn strip in early May, Israel and the U.S. have come under fire from the international community over near-daily reports of people dying while attempting to receive aid or not receiving any aid at all.

Israel has refuted claims that there is hunger in Gaza or that it is using starvation as a tactic of the now 22-month-old war. Rather, officials have said they are working to prevent Hamas from stealing aid being distributed by veteran, mostly U.N.-run, humanitarian agencies and sold for exorbitant prices in a bid to continue funding terror operations. 

Israel, which is tasked with securing routes to four aid centers run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund, has also denied that its soldiers intentionally kill Palestinian civilians but is rather issuing warning shots as a measure of crowd control. The GHF has so far delivered some 85 million meals since it started its aid operation in May.

U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ‘deplored the growing reports of both children and adults suffering from malnutrition and strongly condemned the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing and injuring of people attempting to get food.’

‘As someone who has spent over 40 years in Israel’s Security Establishment – both as IDF Chief of Staff & Minister of Defense, I can say this unequivocally: Not only has Israel never starved or targeted civilians, but it goes above and beyond to protect civilians in the most complex of war zones like Gaza,’ Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz wrote on X.

‘We must be clear – culpability for harm inflicted to civilians rests on terrorist Hamas and Hamas only,’ he added. 

On Tuesday, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, said in a statement that ‘twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip.’ 

‘Every moment, new cases of malnutrition and starvation are arriving at Gaza’s hospitals,’ he said.  

Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv who has been monitoring the situation in Gaza closely, told Fox News Digital that he was ‘not aware of a single official report that people died because of starvation or hunger.’ 

‘I’m not familiar with any such report, but I am familiar with many warnings that were published by international organizations about the catastrophe that exists in Gaza and how in two months or so, 40 or 50,000 people will die because of hunger, but nobody has died because of hunger, because there is no hunger,’ he said, adding, ‘if there are some local problems of supply, it is because of Hamas – not because of the IDF.’

Michael, who is also a fellow at the Misgav Institute in Jerusalem, pointed out that Hamas ‘loots, robs and steals the humanitarian aid, partially for themselves, to feed themselves and the rest is sold in very high prices to the local population in order to make money.’

Israel’s goal of weakening Hamas’s grip on the Strip – and on aid agencies – appeared to be working on Monday, with The Washington Post reporting that the terror group ‘is facing its worst financial and administrative crisis in its four-decade history’ and is struggling to find the resource it needs to continue fighting Israel or rule Gaza. 

Quoting a former high-level Israeli intelligence officer, and current Israel Defense Forces officers, the report said that Hamas could no longer pay its fighters or rebuild its underground terror tunnels, where it is believed to be holding some 50 hostages, both alive and dead, who kidnapped during its Oct. 7 attack. 

The Department of Justice signaled a shift in its approach to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche revealing that he has reached out to Ghislaine Maxwell to gauge her willingness to cooperate with prosecutors.

Blanche confirmed Tuesday that, under the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ is now open to hearing what Maxwell might have to offer regarding uncharged individuals who may have participated in Epstein’s criminal enterprise.

‘This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead,’ Blanche said in a post on X Tuesday.

The House Oversight Committee also took action in the case Tuesday by voting to subpoena Maxwell, requiring her to appear for a deposition.

A House Oversight Committee source told Fox News the Committee will move quickly to subpoena Maxwell. Since she is in federal prison, the Committee will coordinate with the DOJ and Bureau of Prisons to schedule her deposition, they said.

In his statement Tuesday, Blanche reaffirmed the July 6 joint statement issued by the DOJ and FBI, which concluded that a thorough review of FBI files related to the Epstein case uncovered no new evidence to support charges against additional parties. 

‘Namely, that in the recent thorough review of the files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,’ Blanche wrote.

That memo, which was signed by FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, sparked controversy after President Donald Trump, Bondi and FBI leaders repeatedly said they would release all documents related to Epstein.

Sources told Fox News that Bongino, who signed off on the memo, complained about it in private following public backlash.

The new outreach to Maxwell is in the hopes that Epstein’s convicted accomplice ‘has information about anyone who has committed crime against victims,’ Blanche said.

‘President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence…’ he wrote. ‘Therefore, at the direction of Attorney General Bondi, I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department.’

The new outreach to Maxwell marks the first time, according to Blanche, that any administration has approached her legal team with an inquiry into potential cooperation. 

‘That changes now,’ Blanche emphasized.

Blanche said he ‘anticipates meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.’

David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, confirmed to Fox News that they are ‘in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully.’

‘We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case,’ he said.

Patel responded succinctly to Blanche’s statement, writing on X Tuesday: ‘Get it.’

A federal judge has paused the U.S. government’s effort to unseal grand jury transcripts from the Maxwell case, demanding a more detailed legal justification and a complete submission of the materials before ruling. 

In an order filed Tuesday, Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said prosecutors failed to address the legal standards required for disclosing such sensitive documents.

By July 29, the government must file a memorandum and provide redacted and unredacted versions of the grand jury transcripts. Maxwell and any victims who would like to weigh in are required to submit statements by August 5.

If unsealed, the transcripts could reveal previously unseen testimony and possibly identify other individuals connected to the Epstein enterprise. 

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein traffic teen girls. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison and has appealed her case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to prosecutors’ and survivor’s testimony, Maxwell helped recruit and groom underage girls, arrange travel and housing, as well as facilitate abuse at properties owned by Epstein.

Victims described Maxwell as a trusted adult figure who manipulated and coerced them into sexual encounters with Epstein and others.

The DOJ and the FBI declined to provide additional comment, referring Fox News Digital to Deputy Blanche’s statement.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.